The repetition of accented consonant sounds at the beginning of words that are close to each other, usually to create an effect, rhythm, or emphasis.

(Ex. Big, Bad, Barking dog.)

Quality of being intentionally unclear.  Events can be interpreted in more than one way.

(Ex. "Thou still unravished bride of quietness." -Keats, Ode to a Grecian Urn)

Clarifies or explains an unfamiliar concept or object, or one that cannot be put into words, by comparing it with one which is familiar.

Similes and Metaphors

The poetic foot (measure) that follows the pattern unaccented, unaccented, accented.

Gives poem a moving rhythm

A character who functions as a resisting force to the goals of the protagonist. 

(Tends to be the villain, though if the protagonist is evil, the antagonist is virtuous

Ex. Macbeth and Macduff)

The word or phrase to which a pronoun refers.  It often precedes a pronoun in prose (but not necessarily in poetry).

(Ex. "O that this too, too solid flesh would melt,

Thaw and resolve itself into dew." -Shakespeare, Hamlet)

A protagonist who carries the action of the literary piece but does not embody the classic characteristics of courage, strength, and nobility.

(Ex. Holden Caulfield)

A rhetorical figure of direct address to a person, object, or abstract entity.

A character, situation, or symbol that is familiar to people from all cultures because it occurs frequently in literature, myth, religion, or folklore.

Ex.) Symbol:

Dove of Peace

The repeated use of a vowel sound.

Ex.) How now brown cow.

Twice five miles in a mazy motion.

Emotional cleansing or feeling of relief.

(from the audience)

Associations a word calls to mind.

House and Home

Light, Fire, Mother, Father, Rose, Water

(Can reveal authors intent)

The dictionary or literal meaning of a word or phrase.

-Different from Connotation-

Literally, when the god's intervene at a story's end to resolve a seemingly impossible conflict.  A cop-out ending.

Ex.) Sleeping beauty, Greek Mythology

The deliberate choice of a style of language for a desired effect or tone.  The effect of

formal, informal, or colloquial

Hawthorne                    Mark Twain

Substitution of an inoffensive word or phrase for another that would be harsh, offensive, or embarrassing. 

Usually wordier than the original.

In poetry, a rhymed couplet written in iambic pentameter

(5 ft., each w/ one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.)

A figure of speech which compares 2 dissimilar things, asserting that one is another thing, not just that one is like another. 

(Compare w/ analogy & similie)

Figure of speech that replaces the name of something w/ a word or phrase closely associated to it. 

Similar to Synecdoche

Ex.) "the White House" "the President" "The Presidency"

A figure of speech that combines 2 contradictory words.

Ex.) Wisefool, bittersweet

A statment or situation that at first seems impossible or oxymoronic, but which solves itself and reveals meaning.

Ex.) "Fair is foul and foul is fair" (Shakespeare, Macbeth).

Humorous play on words that have several meanings or words that sound the same but have different meanings.

Ex.) "You will find me a graver man", Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio

A figure of speech where one part represents the entire object, or vice versa.

Ex.) All hands on deck; lend me you ears.